2010 Critics Picks

Best Fried Pie & Ice Cream Combo

TIE: Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue, Monument Café

Toothsome apple slices encased in impossibly flaky pastry paired with burnt sugar caramel ice cream at the former and a hot, juicy blackberry turnover topped with a luxurious scoop of vanilla custard at the later are both sheer perfection.

Most Amazing Meat and Potatoes

Hudson's on the Bend

The kitchen here turns out fork-tender bison tenderloin paired with heavenly Shiner Bock/ancho chile mashed potatoes under a tangy Shiner aioli, elevating simple meat and potatoes to the stratosphere of great flavor.

Fried Chicken Worth Pulling Out of Traffic to Eat

Flying Falafel & Po-boys

The inviting aroma of Mama Haddad’s take-out fried chicken – tender and spicy under a crisp mahogany crust - makes you want to pull over and eat it right now!

Most Comforting Locavore Winter Bistro Meal

Texas French Bread

We started with a Salad Lyonnaise of fresh, local greens, house croutons, and lardoons topped with a glorious farm egg and finished with braised Thunderheart bison and winter root vegetables in a buttery crust, completely comforted.

Favorite Reason to Slaughter a Pig

The barbecued pork from from Kerry and Tootsie at Snow’s BBQ in Lexington. It’s the best thing to get there, and it flies smooth under the radar of the brisket-eaters (although their brisket is nothing to sneeze at either).

Bahn Mi to Beat All Bahn Mi

Lots of places try but none of their competition can touch Tâm and Tran’s bahm mi (Vietnamese sandwiches), especially the one filled with rich, grilled lemongrass beef. Many other versions available also.

Best (and Only) Hand-Shaved Noodles

Fantastic as either the stir fried pork and veggie noodles, or the noodles with pork and black beans made with George’s dao xiao mian, or “knife-cut” noodles. Bump it up higher with a bowl of the lamb soup with thick noodles and some excellent scallion cakes.

Best Use of a Restaurant Garden

Madam Mam's

Because most of the stuff that Sap and Mam grow in the vegetable and herb garden cannot be bought here (a cornucopia of Thai eggplants and chiles, herbs and spices like 5 different types of Thai basils, chaplu, and fresh galangal) the food tastes that much more authentic.

Best Locovore Experience

Attend any of the delicious and adventurous dinners staged by Jesse Griffiths and Tamara Mayfield of Dai Due Supper Club to find out what can be prepared with truly fresh and pristine local ingredients.

Best Way to Silence the Unctuous Lambs

Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet

All-you-can-eat lamb shanks at DiMassi's – sure, it's a buffet, but there are piles of unctuous marrow-laden lamb shanks waiting to be scarfed. Lamb shanks, people!

The Chinese Dish I Never Thought I’d Like

Best Under-the-Radar Hamburger

The Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger here is a winner. Everything about this burger is perfection, all of the ingredients are first class, it’s big enough for a big-boy appetite, and for a dollar more it comes with excellent tater tots, o-rings, fries, or curly fries.

Lightest Tamal

These tamales taste like they are whipped with helium-infused lard, so good they melt in your mouth. Huge, but you’ll have room for excellent pupusas, delish yucca frita, and the world’s best fried plantain plate.

Favorite Snack on a Hot Afternoon

Spicy Peel and Eat Shrimp with Escabeche at Perla's

I love these jumbo shrimp tossed with homemade crunchy vegetable escabeche, washed down with a pint of beer, a glass of rosé, or the daily sparkling cocktail.

Favorite Hot and Crispy Snack

Dal Pups at Whip-In

Chandan "Mom" Topiwala won my heart with these addicting spicy patties of garbanzo, lentil, and select Whip-Indianized spices served with a tamarind-date-chili dipping sauce. Also great with a pint of beer or glass of rosé.

Best Milkshake

The Roasted Banana and Brown Sugar milkshake at 24 Diner

Best Greenbelt View

The breezy balcony at Red’s Porch offers a breezy, soothing view of the Greenbelt (including the roar of the Falls), but is tastefully far enough away to preserve the privacy of the hikers, bathers, and other nature-lovers below.

Best Post-Modern Retro Throwback Dessert Experience

The Flambe Cart at The HighBall

When they wheel the Flambe Cart out, in all its polished wooden glory, you will feel like you are eating at a Vegas Casino in 1962. When the chef lights the brandy, your table is the center of the room; and the Highball’s Cherry Jubilee Bread Pudding is even better than the build-up.

Best Argument So Far for Living Foods

Beets Living Foods Cafe

While the idea of Living Foods is exciting, the reality can often be a jaw-exhausting pile of raw vegetables. Not so at BEETS, where the all-raw cuisine is delicious, memorable, and a pleasure to eat.

Best Classic French Pastries

La Boîte

La Boite was perceptive enough to grab Pastry Chef Extraordinaire Barrie Cullinan to provide their pastries. Cullinan takes Croissants, Pain au Chocolate, and Brioche to new levels of flaky perfection that must be experienced to be believed.

Best Place to Build Your Own Sandwich

No matter how misguided your ingredient selection, the Fricano’s family will be able to assemble your sandwich creation with such flair that it will be rendered, not just edible, but worthy of being named after you and added to the menu.

The Chef is a Genius, the Ambiance is Perfect, But Have I Mentioned the Hassle-Free, Non-Valet Parking?

At the Carillion, just inside UT campus on MLK, renowned Chef Josh Watkins has created a triumphant menu that combines the best of tradition and innovation: it’s the perfect place to take the Folks. But there’s more: no looking for a parking space or handing the keys to a stranger, even though the area is a parking desert. You drive into the underground garage, park, and take the elevator up into the restaurant. Elegant, low-stress, and free.

Best Eastern Mediterranean Dessert

Flying Falafel & Po-boys

It’s likely that minuscule Flying Falafel near campus is the only restaurant in town whose menu is a mashup of Jordanian dishes and New Orleans’ classics. It’s all fresh and flavorful, but one standout is the succulent pan-Eastern Mediterranean dessert called kanafeh, made from mild white cheese and crispy shredded phyllo, sprinkled with pistachios and soaked in sweet syrup. Heaven.

Best Housemade Frozen Custard

Monument Café specializes in southern comfort food, not least of which is silken frozen custard made from scratch. Classic vanilla evokes memories of Texas childhood summers, the chocolate version is a satisfying combination of bitter and sweet, but strawberry ushers a new world order into the frozen custard universe. It’s brilliant.

Outdoor Bar Space

Paggi House CLOSED

Michael Paggi, the Italian entrepreneur who first brought ice to Austin in the 1870s, is probably smiling down on the open-air bar in the courtyard of what was once his family home. Paggi House has been a restaurant since 1970, but the courtyard bar, revamped in 200?, is an incredibly pleasant venue under the stars, complete with trickling water sculpture over the old cistern. Oh, and the drinks are good, too.

Best New Regional Mexican Food (Trailer)

Holy mole, chefs Iliana de la Vega and Ernesto Torrealba are elevating Mexican cooking in Austin to a new plane. Transported to Austin from their world-renowned restaurant of the same name in Oaxaca, these talented authorities on Mexican cuisines offer different dishes on different days, including subtly complex moles, softly steamed tamales from different regions, stuffed masa appetizers called molotes, tacos and tostadas with fillings like nopales, tinga verde, and chileajo.

Most Satisfying Bowl of Polenta

Asti’s creamy soft polenta begins life as heirloom flint corn from Anson Mills in South Carolina. Perfectly cooked, it’s served in a big bowl and topped with a fat, grilled, homemade sausage, lashed with fresh tomato sauce, and blessed with Parmesan shavings. One of the most satisfying lunches ever. Ever.

Best Urban Grocery

With a to-go counter selling hot food and sandwiches, weekly wine tastings, and a terrific selection of local specialty items, the Royal Blue has tapped into the downtown condo scene in a big way. There are two locations downtown, and they deliver.

Best Spicy Fish

House special crispy fish at Asia Cafe

If you haven’t been to the Café at Asia Market yet, just go. Order the House special crispy fish-- chunks of crispy white fish in a fiery garlic and chili broth, atop lightly steamed bok choy—and you won’t be disappointed.

Best Place to See Your Food

Thai Fresh owner, Jam Santichat serves authentic food the way they do it in Thailand- from a display case at the front of the restaurant (only there are no flies). Everything looks (and is) so mouthwateringly delicious, you’ll have a tough time choosing.

Best Chilaquiles

Shrimp chilaquiles at Garrido's

These chilaquiles are made with thick, homemade strips of tortilla, plenty of tender shrimp, then smothered with a tangy, creamy chili sauce. Original, yet oh so comforting.

Best Recycling of an Arby’s Sign

Best Shaved Ice

The Mangonada at the Snow Cone

Best Schnitzel

European Bistro

Though Schnitzel has been handed down (after a fashion) to the modern-day Texan as our beloved Chicken-Fried Steak, the original German version of breaded cutlets is a culinary triumph of its own. European Bistro serves up the quintessential version of, not only Weinerschnitzel, but Chicken Schnitzel, Pork Schnitzel, and the heavenly Jaagerschnitzel, which comes to the table drowned in fresh mushroom gravy.